Ice auger

ABSTRACT

An ice auger includes a drive member, an upright bar, and a saw barrel. The drive member is coupled with a top end of the bar, and a bottom of the bar is coupled with a top center of the saw barrel, which is circular mug-shaped with a downward opening. The saw barrel has pores at its top side, saw blades on its bottom fringe, and a chipping-ejecting blade upward spirally extended from an outer sharp edge of each said saw blade along its outer periphery. Whereby, the ice auger of a preferably simplified structure is provided.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to an ice boring apparatus, and more particularly to an improved ice auger, which structure is preferably simplified.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Fishing is a popular activity for relaxation. However, the ice will be formed over the water in some fishing fields around the rivers, lakes, beaches, etc. in the winter or cold zones. For this reason, ice auger, an apparatus for boring the ice, was invented for the fishers to enjoy fishing even in the winter or cold zones.

[0003] U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,744 discloses an ice auger. It is to be noted that the numerical references recited hereinafter in this paragraph are directly quoted from U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,744. The ice auger primarily comprises a drive unit, shown as an overall assembly of all components in the right side of FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,744, and a boring unit, shown as an overall assembly of all components in the left side of FIG. 1 of the '744 patent. The drive unit, which is arched, has a guide pad 32 on its top and a rotatable drive handle 30 at its middle section. The boring unit is generally composed of an outer ream control sleeve 50, an auger blade 65, a ring 63, an inner drive bar 20, a pair of reaming blades 56 with two slots 60, and two ice boring blades 38. The outer ream control sleeve 50 can be inserted through by a bottom section of the drive unit and an upper section of the inner drive bar 20, which top can be coupled with the bottom of the drive unit. The outer ream control sleeve 50 is spirally surrounded with the auger blade 65 and has a bottom to be fastened to the ring 63, to which bottom side the reaming blades 56 is pivoted. The inner drive bar 20 has a bottom fastened with the ice boring blades 38 and extended with two camming support bars 44, which are respectively pivoted to the slots 60 of the reaming blades 56 by two ice reaming blade camming pins 46. The operational process of the ice auger is described hereinafter. Put the ice auger standing upright on the ice 14, the users with one hand holding the guide pad 32 on the top of the drive unit to press downwardly and with the other hand holding the drive handle 30 at the middle section of the drive unit, turning the drive handle 30 in lateral direction. The drive member has the bottom coupled with the top of the inner drive bar 20, and the inner drive bar 20 has the camming support bars 44 at its bottom to drive the reaming blades 56, the rings 38, and the outer drive bars 50, so that the reaming blades 56 and the ice boring blades 38 can be rotated to bore. The ice chipping formed while boring the ice 14 follows the rotation of the overall boring unit, through the ring 63, and it is ejected upward along the auger blade 65, such that a hole for fishing will be bored through the ice 14.

[0004] The foregoing ice auger includes at least below drawbacks.

[0005] 1. The structure of the ice auger is over-complicated and the production cost is relatively high.

[0006] 2. Although the ice auger can be generally disassembled as an arched drive unit and a boring unit, the boring unit is still huge and heavy and inconvenient to be carried.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved ice auger, which structure is preferably simplified and production cost is low.

[0008] Another objective of the present invention is to provide an improved ice auger, which disassembled components are small-sized and convenient to be carried.

[0009] To achieve the objectives of the present invention, the ice auger of the present invention includes an upright bar, a drive member coupled with a top of the bar, and a saw barrel. The saw barrel, which is circular mug-shaped with a downward opening, has a top side fastened to a bottom of the bar, pores at its top side, saw blades on its periphery of the bottom side, and a chipping-ejecting blade upward spirally extended from an outer sharp edge of the said saw blade along the outer periphery of said saw barrel. According to the foregoing three components of the present invention, the ice auger is provided with a preferably simplified structure and convenient to be carried after being disassembled.

[0010] The substantial structure and features of the present invention will be readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is a perspective assembly view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0013]FIG. 3 is a perspective exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

[0014]FIG. 4 shows the preferred embodiment of the present invention in practice.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, an improved ice auger 10 of a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a bar 20, a drive member 30 detachably mounted on a top of the bar 20, and a saw barrel 40 detachably fastened to a bottom of the bar.

[0016] The bar 20, which is an upright straight bar, has a hexagonal connecting post 21 at a top end thereof, the post 21 having a through hole 22 horizontally therethrough, and a threaded post 23 at a bottom end thereof.

[0017] The drive member 30 for rotatably driving the bar 20 and the saw barrel 40 is rail-shaped and has an upright cylindrical coupler 31 at a center thereof. The coupler has an axial hexagonal hole 32 and two opposite vents 33 radially therethrough, and the connecting post 21 of the top of the bar 20 is inserted into the hole 32, and the vents 33 and the through hole 22 correspond to and communicate with each other. Furthermore, a pin 34 is inserted into the vents 33 of the coupler 31 and the through hole 22 of the connecting post 21, and has a ring 35 at one end thereof. The main structure of the drive member 30 can be steering-wheel-shaped, or arched as the '744 patent, therefore, the drive member 30 is not actually confined to be rail-shaped. Moreover, the way to connect the drive member 30 and the bar 20 is not actually confined to the foregoing engaged and pin-fastened structure, and there are still other equivalent technology to be applied, such as to-be engaged and to-be bolt-fastened, to-be directly screwed with each other, to-be directly solder-bonded, and so on.

[0018] The saw barrel 40 has a circular mug-shaped main body 41 with a downward opening. The main body 41 includes a connecting tube 42 having an inner thread and protruding upward at a center thereof to be clockwise screwed into the threaded post 23 of the bar 20, and a few pores 43 on its top side, and three saw blades 44 in an arrangement of equivalent angle integrally downwardly protruding from the periphery of its bottom, and three chipping-ejecting blades 45 counterclockwise upward spirally extended from the outer sharp edge of the saw blades 44 on the periphery of main body 41. The way to connect the saw barrel 40 and the bar 20 can be similar to foregoing engaged and pin-fastened structure of the bar 20 and the drive member 30, or other equivalent technology of to-be engaged and to-be screw-fastened, to-be directly solder-bonded, etc. Therefore, it's not actually confined to the way of to-be screwed. Likewise, the saw blades are not required to be confined to specific shape and quantity, and actually also can be detachable but not required to be integrally formed.

[0019] The interrelation among the components of the ice auger of the preferred embodiment is recited above and the operational process, as shown in FIG. 4, is described hereunder. Put the ice auger 10 standing on the ice 50, users with two hands holding two ends of the drive member 30 to rotate clockwise, and the bar 20 drives the saw barrel 40 to rotate on the same spot. Note that the bar 20 and the saw barrel 40 are also clockwise screwed tight such that they are not worried to be screwed loosely. Then, the saw blades 44 cut out a circular face on the ice 50 along a fixed circle track, i.e. a bottom fringe of the saw barrel 40, and further, it cuts out an ice column 51. As a result of the pores 43 located on the top side of the saw barrel 40, the top side of the saw barrel 40 is partial wide-open to prevent a closed chamber from being formed in the saw barrel 40 which causes that the air is compressed to form an expansive resistance in the process of boring and users have to operate the ice auger 10 more laboriously while boring the ice 50. The ice chipping formed while boring the ice 50 is ejected counterclockwise upward along the chipping-ejecting blades 45 when the saw barrel 40 clockwise downwardly bores the ice 50.

[0020] Furthermore, the ice column 51 in the saw barrel 40 is detached from the ice 50 after the ice 50 is bored through. The outside air enters the saw barrel 40 through the pores 42, so that the ice column 51 can be easily detached from the saw barrel 40 while withdrawing the ice auger 10 from the ice 50.

[0021] Moreover, the applicant would like to recite herewith that the pores are designed to make the top side, or the outer periphery beside the top side of the saw barrel partial wide-open, so that the pores are not confined to specific location, shape, or quantity.

[0022] To conclude from the above recitation, the improved ice auger of the present invention has advantages hereunder compared with the prior art:

[0023] 1. The structure of the present invention is dramatically simplified and the production cost can be reduced.

[0024] 2. The present invention can be disassembled as small components such that it's very convenient to be carried. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An ice auger comprising: a bar; a drive member coupled with a top end of said bar; and a boring member, which is circular mug-shaped with a downward opening, having a top side coupled with a bottom of said bar, pores positioned at the top side thereof, saw blades disposed around a bottom periphery thereof, and a chipping-ejecting blade upward spirally extended from an outer sharp edge of each said saw blade along the outer periphery of said boring member.
 2. The ice auger as defined in claim 1, wherein said bar is rail-shaped and formed a T-shape with said bar.
 3. The ice auger as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive member is steering-wheel-shaped.
 4. The ice auger as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive member is arched and has an end coupled with the top end of said bar, the other end provided with guide pad, and a middle section provided with a rotatable handle.
 5. The ice auger as defined in claim 1, wherein said bar is detachably coupled with said drive member.
 6. The ice auger as defined in claim 5, wherein said bar has a polyangular connecting post, and said drive member is substantially rail-shaped and has a cylindrical coupler at the center thereof, said coupler having an axial polyangular hole for said connecting post to be inserted in.
 7. The ice auger as defined in claim 6, wherein said connecting post of said bar horizontally has a through hole, and said coupler of said drive member has two radial opposite vents for corresponding to and communicating with said through hole of said connecting post, said two vents and said through hole being inserted through by a pin.
 8. The ice auger as defined in claim 1, wherein said bar is fixedly fastened with said drive member.
 9. The ice auger as defined in claim 1, wherein said bar is detachably coupled with said boring member.
 10. The ice auger as defined in claim 9, wherein said bar has a threaded post at its bottom and said boring member has a connecting tube with an inner thread at its top center for coupling said threaded post of said bar.
 11. The ice auger as defined in claim 1, wherein said bar is fixedly fastened with said boring member. 